Last week, my final link used iDOS 2 to install Windows 3.1 on your iPad. I’m sure it wasn’t my link that focused Apple’s attention on the app. Many blogs and podcasts discussed it. Unfortunately, Apple has now told the developer to make fundamental changes within 14 days, or they’ll remove it from the App Store.

I’ve also had this article from the Panic blog in my saved links for a while. It’s the story of why their editor, Nova, won’t come to iPad as they initially said it would. Predictably, it’s also due to the same App Store rules.

The new iPad Pro is an incredible device. It has the M1 chip, an XDR screen, keyboard, trackpad, touch, and pen input, and it’s all wrapped up in what I think is the most beautiful industrial design coming out of Apple today.

My iPad is more than four years old now, and even though it still works well, it’s getting to the age where I would typically think about replacing it. But while I’ve added the new iPad Pro to my shopping basket several times, I haven’t checked out, and I don’t think I will.

The iPad can do many great things, but there’s no doubt that the App Store rules hold it back from fulfilling its potential. That said, I can’t see Apple wanting to give an inch on rules that would weaken the platform’s security. They’ve fought hard to create trust in iOS, and the tight restrictions on what developers can do partially protect the platform’s security.

You could make a convincing argument that allowing a different web rendering engine, JavaScript parser, or allowing emulation wouldn’t affect security much. But I don’t think you could say it wouldn’t affect it at all.

The complexity comes when the same restrictions also benefit Apple in so many other ways than security, and that’s at the heart of so many of their current legal issues.

I’d love to see a more capable iPadOS. I want to see a full-featured iPad version of Nova, and running Windows 3.1 on an iPad for a few minutes is harmless fun. But I also highly value the trust that the protected environment has helped create. Changing these rules for everyone’s benefit is a challenging decision that I’m glad no one is asking me to make.

I still think that despite all their bias, Apple is in the best position to make changes to these rules. I just can’t see them doing that voluntarily. There’s too much at stake. Because of that, it might be a judge who gets to make that final decision, which scares me a little.

I’ve written on this topic a few times recently but never quite managed to get my thoughts down as clearly as it feels like I have this time. I hope you’ll forgive the repetition!

Dave Verwer

Free training for mid to senior iOS developers – Next week

From August 2nd to 8th (that's this coming Monday!) you can join a FREE crash course for iOS devs who want to achieve an expert level of technical and practical skills – it's the fast track to being a complete senior developer! Get it now.

essentialdeveloper.com

Deprecated SiriKit Intent Domains

I didn't spot this at WWDC, but it seems significant and a little curious. 🤔 You should note from the article that even though there are plenty of deprecations here, it's not everything. It's not even everything inside a single domain. For example, you can create and search for notes but no longer amend them. As always with Apple, a little context or explanation would go a long way to help explain things like this. Did anyone see any context announced at WWDC that I missed?

apple.com

Apple Entrepreneur Camp for Black founders and developers

It's that time of year again. 🚀 If this programme isn't for you, do you know someone who might be able to benefit from it? Please pass the link on. There are also details on registering your interest for a female founders intake in 2022.

apple.com

TestFlight for iOS 15 and Monterey

If you're beta testing your iOS 15 and Monterey apps, you can now start distributing test versions through App Store Connect! Are there any interesting developer-focused apps that are not on my radar that are in development for September? Let me know by hitting reply!

apple.com

The missing Info.plist in Xcode 13

I happened to create a new Xcode project recently and noticed this. I really like how this gets handled, especially when you start to add additional keys later. Keith Harrison has a quick recap of the feature and also tells us how to create a project that's still compatible with Xcode 12.

useyourloaf.com

What's new in Xcode 13 beta 4

More betas and more features! Federico Zanetello takes what is becoming a regular look at everything new. Button styles, attributed strings, text fields, and more documentation too! 🚀

fivestars.blog

List Selection Based Navigation on macOS

I'm working on a SwiftUI app at the moment where I came up against the exact same problem that Matthaus Woolard had here. Navigation links and views can't always do what you need, especially on macOS.

lostmoa.com

Swift is the only language I could find with over 100 keywords

This is quite a wild statistic from Collin Donnell. It's no secret that Swift is a complex language, and I know that number of keywords isn't necessarily a metric you should read too much into, but I do think there's something to this.

twitter.com

The Power of Optional Chaining

How? does? it? even? work? 😂 Let Khawer Khaliq explain.

khawerkhaliq.com

Senior iOS Engineer @ img.ly – We are that groundbreaking technology provider whose work you came across without knowing it. Bet? It's on! You will be working with us on our flagship products PhotoEditor SDK and VideoEditor SDK, empowering developers at 500+ startups, government & Fortune 500 businesses. You decide where you work best: we tackle the creative world entirely remotely while keeping our team strong and connected. – Remote

iOS Engineers at Multiple Levels @ Turo – Help us build product features that delight guests who book vehicles on our platform and enable hosts with the tools they need to manage their fleet. The iOS team is actively transitioning our iOS codebase from Objective-C to Swift, and we’re learning SwiftUI together–in labs–as we migrate our internal, watchOS, and tvOS apps. It’s really an exciting time to be an Apple-centric engineer at Turo. – San Francisco CA

Senior iOS SDK Architect @ Stream – Stream, a high-growth startup focused on Chat and Feeds, is hiring a Senior iOS SDK Architect to help build the future of their native iOS SDK. Join the team! – Remote, Boulder CO, or Amsterdam

Are you looking for a new challenge? There's something new coming for iOS Dev Jobs, and it's coming soon! I'm quite excited. 🤪

I’d love to thank this week’s Patreon supporters. Frank Courville, Kevin Sliech, Vanderlei Martinelli, Runway, and Peter Suwara!

Thanks to you all. In fact, thanks to everyone who continues to support what I’m doing here, either through Patreon or just by continuing to read the words that I write! ❤️

What do you mean, "Why does it have a unicorn horn?" Did you specify that it shouldn't have one? 😂